


Family is Forever

by RubyGlass



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adult Eren Yeager, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkwardness, Blended family, Eren Is a Little Shit, Explicit Language, Fluff, Levi is a lonely old man, M/M, Minor Angst, Minor pining, Online Dating, acknowledgement that sex exists, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 18:04:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7944058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyGlass/pseuds/RubyGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In it's most basic form, online dating is just selling yourself in the most demeaning of ways, and none of those ways were how Levi Ackerman thought he’d be trying to find his life partner, but at twenty-nine years of age – less than 365 days away from the dreaded 30-year mark – he was finding himself a little desperate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family is Forever

**Author's Note:**

> ****  
> Disclaimer: My character's opinions are not my own! I have nothing against online dating. It's a perfectly reasonable way to find a date.
> 
>  
> 
> I think this was inspired by a tumblr post...or maybe it was a reddit comment? Fuck, I can't remember. But either way, I do remember it's based off this comment I read where someone was talking about meeting a long-lost sibling on tinder:
> 
> "I think we have the same dad." 
> 
> So, this is what you get. This shitty one-shot instead of an update on my ongoings. 
> 
> Fuck it, hope you like it anyways.

No one ever tells you how hard it is to get a date after college. The more removed from a university campus you are, the more removed from the dating pool you feel. 

The last remaining avenues for finding a date become bars - a dark and dreary road best left untraveled; lucking out with a blind date set up by friends or family - which can be awkward if your only family is a good for nothing uncle that’s been locked up for the better part of a decade, and your friends are certifiably insane; or work - but it’s always best not to shit where you eat. 

So as you get older, the lonelier you become, and the faster your biological clock seems to be ticking: the harder it becomes to actually find that certain someone who won’t make you miserable for the rest of your life. 

Which is how, in this modern era, more and more people find themselves sinking to the level of online dating. Even the concept makes you sound desperate: basing a prospective relationship on nothing more than the most flattering photos you can dig up from years ago, and a list of superficial questions answered in the most generic way possible. 

In it's most basic form, online dating was selling yourself in the most demeaning of ways, and none of those ways were how Levi Ackerman thought he’d be trying to find his life partner, but at twenty-nine years of age – less than 365 days away from the dreaded 30-year mark – he was finding himself a little desperate. 

So, swayed by the encroaching fear of dying alone, he gave in. 

Which is how, just after midnight, he found himself sitting at his kitchen table with his face illuminated by his latest love-match: deduced from a one-dimensional profile that revealed little of his humanity. It was his strongest match in the weeks since he’d set up the damned thing –a 99% match according to the shitty website which, if the bright-green and bold lettering gracing his screen could be trusted, was something of a rarity. It should have been a no-brainer to shoot the bastard a message and give him a shot, but Levi found himself stumped by the dilemma that faced him on the shining screen. 

Sure, he was cute: messy chocolate hair, tan skin, and brilliant green eyes that crinkled in laughter, with a strong jaw and a huge smile that consumed half his face. Twenty-three-years-old, with a college degree and a day job working as an EMT, doubling as a coffee-shop in-house musician by night. An ex high-school track-star that loved classic American literature and cappuccinos. 

And Exactly Levi’s type. 

There was only one problem. 

His name. 

Ackerman. Eren Ackerman. 

The same last name as Levi’s uncle, and good for nothing father. 

As his. 

The man in the pictures didn’t look like an Ackerman though. He didn’t have the narrow Ackerman eyes; or the sleek, jet black Ackerman hair; or the pale, near translucent Ackerman skin. 

But there were no Ackermans living in Mitras that he wasn’t related to, or at least that was what Kenny always told him, not that he’d ever met most of them. 

He began clicking through the man’s photos, curiosity piqued. 

He’d only met a handful of the Ackerman clan in his life: The uncle who raised him, maybe a cousin or two that were much older than himself, and the grandmother that died when he was young. After her death, none of the other Ackermans came calling, and certainly not the father who never acknowledged him. 

Though he’d never met the man that contributed half of his DNA, he knew what the sperm donor looked like. He’d seen plenty of pictures of him and Kenny together growing up, the brothers could have been twins if not for the eleven months that separated their births. Though the last time he’d set eyes on one of those family heirlooms had to have been at least five years before Kenny was arrested. 

It was a shock, then, when the penultimate photo on Eren Ackerman’s profile caught his eye: one of a small family gathered at what looked like a high school graduation ceremony. The celebrant was a girl with sleek black hair cropped at her shoulders, her dark eyes were narrow and smiling, with a red scarf loosely draped over her white graduation gown. Standing to her left was the man in question - dressed sharply in an olive button down that brought out the brilliance of his eyes, his chocolate hair parted in a poor attempt to tame it, and a bright smile stretched across his face as his arm rested around the girl’s back. Next to him stood a woman: her hair the same chocolate hue pulled tight behind her head into a long pony-tail, her eyes – a duller shade of the same green – sparkled as she smiled the same wide smile with a hand resting on the younger man’s shoulder. His mother, no doubt. Their resemblance was uncanny. 

On the other side of the graduate though - standing stiffly with his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back off his face - was a man distinctly familiar, but at the same time completely foreign. He had the same face as Kenny, so closely resembled that, if not for the fact Kenny must have been incarcerated long before this picture was taken, Levi would have confused this man for the uncle who raised him. He stood tall, though his head didn't raise much higher than the graduate's own, and rested a pale hand heavy on the graduate’s shoulder in front of him, with a muted smile and bagged eyes. 

A family portrait, he realized. 

_His_ family portrait. 

A family that he’d never been a part of, that he’d never met before. 

But still, it was his family. Or rather, it would have been had the man in the photo not abandoned his mother before his birth. 

He sat in shocked silence, staring at the screen and trying to decide if it would be best to just close his laptop and go to bed. To forget about Eren Ackerman, and what he had seen. 

But he couldn’t. 

Instead he found the more he stared, the angrier he grew. He was angry he had missed out on this life just because his asshole father couldn't be bothered to come back for him. He'd missed out on a happy little life with a happy little family, proud parents and loving siblings that probably had curfews and house rules and family game nights. He was pissed that he'd been forced to live with his asshole uncle after his mother’s, and then grandmother's, death, that he was made to practically raise himself. That his father had never even so much as come to see him, or explain his absence. Or even send a fucking birthday card, for Christ's sake. Not that he ever really cared about birthdays, but it wouldn’t have hurt to have been acknowledged on arguably the most important day of his life. 

ch

A ping from his computer brought him out of his swirling thoughts and swelling irritation, heralding the arrival of a new private message: 

**Hi! I saw your profile. Did you see we have a 99% match??? I didn’t even think that was possible! I’m Eren, by the way.**

It was at this moment that he remembered he’d used his mother’s maiden name for his profile. It had seemed like a good idea at the time; something about attaching his real persona to something as low brow as this particular shitty, off-brand dating site had seemed utterly unsafe, or maybe just more pathetic. 

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t his best decision. 

Because now Eren Ackerman had no idea he was hitting on his half-brother. 

###### 

It wasn’t his proudest of moments. 

When faced with a difficult decision, Levi Ackerman was usually the type to sit back and think things through, to not let emotion take over. 

Mind over heart. 

Facts over feelings. 

Information over instinct. 

It was how he operated: how he drug himself up from the street brat he was in Mitras’ Underground District to become a dignified Sergeant in Mitras’s Police Department. Well, that hadn’t happened without a little luck along the way, a little right-place-right-time. But the fact still stood that without his rational modus operandi, he would have been shit out of luck. 

Levi was a thinker, not a feeler. A planner, not a doer. 

And above that, he hated people that spoke without thinking, people that lied without thinking of the consequences; people that said the first thing that came to mind, no matter how much truth the words did or didn't hold. 

He had been raised by a pack of liars, and con-men. So honesty was something he came to value in his later years. 

Levi Ackerman did not lie. 

Levi Ackerman did not cheat. 

Levi Ackerman did not steal 

Levi Ackerman did not lead attractive men on while concealing their probable blood relation. 

Levi Ackerman was honest, almost to a fault. 

No, definitely to a fault. 

All of this combined to make the past half-hour a very confusing one. 

On a normal occasion, the Levi Ackerman he knew himself to be would have responded to Eren’s message with something similar to: 

**I did see that. Unfortunately, I’m a member of the Ackerman family as well. I’m almost positive we’re related. Sorry to disappoint. Maybe I’ll see you at the next family reunion?**

Instead, Levi Ackerman responded with something more like: 

**Nice to meet you, Eren. I'm Levi. I did see our match percentage. I don’t think I’ve had a match higher than 60% since I joined.**

No mention of the little complication that would more than likely end the conversation right there; No quick interjection adding “By the way, I think we have the same father.” 

Maybe he just wanted to get to know the man with whom he shared a father. Or maybe he wanted to gather information on the man who had raised the brat, but couldn't seem to spare a second thought for his first-born. Or maybe he was just curious about what kind of person he'd been matched to so strongly, what kind of person this website thought he'd be best suited for - maybe it could give some insight to why his dating life had been such a mess. 

Whatever his motives for concealing their relation, they were far from pure. In fact, they were most likely incredibly dubious. 

But nevermind that, because Eren was typing a reply. 

**Wow! Only 60% till now? I must be something special then haha**

Now was his chance to alert Eren to the conflict of interest. To keep the brunette cutie, that was almost certainly his sibling, from wasting valuable time on something that could never be. 

**Let’s hope so. It’s been two weeks and I’m already tired of this online dating shit.**

There was something seriously wrong with him. 

**Oh come on, it isn’t that bad.** It was that bad. Who in their right minds did this out of anything other than desperation? 

**It’s shit.**

**Don’t you like meeting new people?** No, he really didn't. 

**What’s there to like?**

**I think it’s fun.**

**What's so fun about being reduced to finding a date like this?**

**Well, the whole reason I joined was to meet people when I moved here from Shinganshina. It's harder than you'd think, but I think it's interesting to see what kind of people are out there.** Well, Levi couldn't find argument with that. He'd come to Mitras proper with all the friendships he'd needed. He never had to rebuild his life in a new place, because he never had anything worth rebuilding to begin with. And given how hard it was to find a date, he couldn't imagine how hard it was to find people to befriend. 

**So how many people have you met on here?**

**Too many. Finding people looking for something platonic was easier than expected, I've made more than enough friends since I started. But if I had one complaint it would have to be how no one on here is looking for anything ‘real’, you know?** He did not 'know'. 

**I don’t think I’ve been doing this long enough to ‘know.’**

**Oh. Well, I mean, if you’re looking for something more than a quick fuck, or a booty-call kind of set up it can be hard to find anything.**

**So you’re looking for something more serious?**

**Yeah. I had enough of the superficial fling thing in college.** Just his luck. Cute, _and_ looking for commitment. 

**Which college?**

**St. Sina University.** Of course it would be an expensive private school. He had everything else Levi didn't: a loving father, a family, a cushy suburban upbringing. Why wouldn't he have an expensive degree to go along with it? 

**Wow. Fancy.** Levi felt the pangs of jealousy coursing through him. His degree was from an online community college with a redundant, scammy sounding name like University of Mitras University College. Maybe if his father had been around he would have been able to go to St. Sina too. Not that it was Eren's fault, he'd try not to take it out on the poor brat. 

**Not really, I was a scholarship student. It was mostly luck, and a glowing recommendation letter from my dad’s boss.**

**Your dad’s boss?** Levi’s heart stopped in his chest, he knew he’d eventually probe Eren for details on their father, but he hadn’t expected the brunette to be so forthcoming so soon. And it hurt all the more that Levi's father actually had been one of the factors that got Eren into St. Sina at all. 

**Yeah, my dad is a Fire Chief in the district. His boss, the Fire Commissioner, wrote me one after I shadowed him for a summer.**

So his father was a fireman. He should have been irritated at finding out more information about the man that cursed him to a life in the slums, but all he could think was how funny it was that he ended up in public service just like his bastard of a father. And if Eren's profile was anything to go off he had a cop, a fireman, and an EMT all in the same family. Who would have thunk. Guess it really did run in his veins, just like Erwin always joked. 

**Did you become an EMT because your dads a firefighter?**

**Yeah. I used to idolize him growing up. I’m pretty sure it gave me a complex.**

**A complex?**

**Well, I mean, I am on a dating sight looking to hook up with a man 5-10 years older than myself.**

He’d almost forgotten he was nearly seven years older than the brat on the other side of the screen. Which meant his mother was long dead before his father had gotten his other family. He would have been living with Kenny in their shitty one room, one mattress apartment, if you could even call it that, in the Underground by that point. He was probably picking someone’s pocket, or running around on the street with his little ‘gang’ beating people up the day Eren was born in some fancy, sterilized, suburban hospital to a pair of loving parents that made sure he had his own bed, maybe even his own bedroom. 

It was a thought that made Levi bitter, but it wasn’t Eren’s fault. Eren probably never even knew he existed, if his father hadn't come back for him it wasn't likely he ever told his happy, new family about the existence of his illegitimate little bastard living back in the Underground. 

**Got a thing for older men, then?** He swallowed his anger and pushed forward, not wanting Eren to be able to tell something was wrong. 

**You could say that. Though, I don’t think you have much room to talk.**

**Oh?** His eyebrow quirked up in curiosity, though the brunette couldn't see it. 

**You are the one matched to a guy six years younger than you. Cradle robber, much?** Levi finally cracked a smile, bitterness forgotten. The kid had balls. He’d probably put off more than his fair share of matches with it, but Levi appreciated that he wasn’t afraid to poke back. 

**I wouldn’t go picking fights with strangers. Especially ones that know how to make you disappear.** He was alluding to his being Police, but his knowledge of making people 'disappear' wasn’t limited to things he learned on the job. He had grown up in Mitas' slums surrounded by numerous criminal elements, after all. 

**Making me disappear wouldn’t be in your best interest.**

**Is that so?**

**Aside from the sister that would hunt you down and tear you limb from limb, if you get rid of me you might never find such a perfect match for yourself ever again. Think of what you could be doing to your love life.**

Levi ignored the pangs of guilt, and swallowed the lump in his throat. He’d nearly forgotten that he’d been romantically matched to his half-brother, of all people. This was fucked up on so many levels. He really should just tell Eren and get it over with, so the boy could focus his attention on actual potential matches and not with creepy older dudes who just wanted to know more about the family they never knew existed. 

**You make some good arguments. I suppose I could let you live a bit longer.** But telling Eren now would be too embarrassing. He’d already spent the better half of an hour chatting with the younger man. Maybe he could just start ignoring the brunette and hope Eren got the message? But then he’d miss out on hearing more about the father he never knew. Even if the man had abandoned him and his mother, and he had every right to hate the man, he couldn’t help but want to know what his life, and family, were like. 

**Yay! I knew you were a nice guy deep down. I could tell from you pictures.** The photos Levi had chosen for himself were just as hand selected as every other user's on this god-forsaken site. One of himself on the day he graduated from the police academy in his dress blues which Hanji said made him look dignified and “bangable” at the same time, another at Erwin’s most recent birthday party where the lighting was particularly favorable, and one from before an amateur boxing championship match two years ago. He'd lost that match, but the picture was still flattering and served as a good enough excuse to get a picture of himself topless up without looking too desperate. 

Each one was totally and completely calculated, just like everything else on this site. 

**You must have been looking at someone else’s pictures. Because I’m not sure how you figured that from the ones I posted.**

**Give yourself more credit. You look like a very nice guy. Especially in that last one.** Levi's eyebrow rose in curiosity again, there was no way Eren could be talking about what he thought the brunette was talking about. 

**The one where I’m shirtless?**

**That’s the one ;)** Levi almost smiled to himself, they were flirting. Honest to God flirting. And he was actually enjoying it. 

The website hadn’t been completely off base when it matched them, because a half hour later and Levi realized he already really liked the brunette - was actually enjoying talking to him, and flirting with him. 

The brat was funny, and straightforward, and cute. 

And related to him. 

Fucking fuck. His luck was the absolute worst. 

He had to do something. He really couldn’t let this keep going on, unless he wanted to end up actually falling for his half-brother, and living a lie. 

**Would you want to grab coffee sometime?**

Asking the brunette on a date was not what he intended to do. Rather, he just wanted to have a conversation with the kid in person. Without being able to hide behind his computer screen, Levi might be more forthcoming with certain bits of information he possessed that were relevant to this not being able to happen. And he preferred that to happen in public, so when he actually gathered the courage to reveal the reason he’d replied in the first place Eren might be less inclined to take a swing at him. 

**I’d love to, but can we make it sooner rather than later? I’m tired of guys setting up dates a week in advance only to bail on me at the last minute.** How anyone could bail on someone like Eren escaped Levi, but he didn’t question it. Sooner worked better for him anyways, it meant he wouldn’t have to live with the guilt for too much longer. 

**Are you free tomorrow morning?**

**Today, technically.** Right, it was already after one AM after all. **But yeah, I’m free. :) How does ten work?** It was a Saturday, but the sooner he got this off his chest, the better. 

**Works for me. There’s a café downtown that has good coffee. On the corner of Garrison and Survey Streets?**

**I know the place!!!! Can't wait!!! ;) ;)**

Unwanted butterflies fluttered in his stomach at the message brimming with excitement, and Levi released a groan of frustration. 

This was going to be much harder than he thought. 

“You’ve really never left Mitras before?” Levi’s hand gripped tighter around his second mug of tea as he stared through the rising steam at the radiantly white smile of Eren Ackerman. 

“Nope.” He replied casually, tilting his mug slowly to take a long sip. 

Eren was even cuter in person. He was sweeter in person, even more radiant in person. His personality shone brighter now that he was sitting across the tiny cafe table, and not hidden by a computer screen, which simultaneously relaxed Levi and put him on edge. He laughed at Levi’s shit jokes (both in the figurative and literal sense of the word), and wasn’t put off by Levi's socially awkward mannerisms. He was full of questions, but didn’t mind when the answers were short, or that Levi let him do most of the talking. 

In short, Eren was everything Levi ever thought he needed in a partner. 

Which made the problem of Eren’s parentage all the more pressing. 

He shouldn’t be having these kinds of thoughts about the man that shared his father. Probably shouldn’t have asked the guy out for coffee, either. Or talked to him for over an hour the night before. Or flirted with him shamelessly. 

Okay, he definitely shouldn’t have flirted with him shamelessly. 

And he definitely shouldn’t have withheld the information about Keith Ackerman being his biological father. 

The only reason he’d agreed to meet Eren in person in the first place was to tell the brunette this couldn’t go anywhere. That he was a dead end. That all Eren would get out of this interaction was awkwardness, and maybe even a little resentment. Oh, and a brother he never knew existed. 

But he was finding it harder than anticipated to tell Eren the truth, which was not something Levi ever had a problem with in the past. Normally the truth came easy to him, almost too easy really. The number of times he’d been slapped by an offended conversation partner was testament to that. 

So why, pray tell, was he procrastinating this so much? 

Why couldn’t he just stop Eren’s story, about how the brunette picked up his whole life and moved half-way across the country on a whim with little more to his name than an expensive biology degree, the clothes on his back, and the old beater he’d bought from a sketchy Craigslist posting for a few hundred bucks, and tell the brunette that he had been lured here under false circumstances. 

Why was the only thing Levi could focus on the fact that he thought Eren was brave for making such a huge change, and how much he liked that Eren was willing to take risks. Why did he feel like he already knew Eren? Why was it that after spending an hour chatting online, and another hour sitting at a little table in a quiet corner of his favorite café, he felt he could say that a move like that was exactly something Eren Ackerman would do? That it totally fit his character. That a move like that spoke to exactly the kind of person Eren was, and that he really liked the kind of person Eren turned out to be. That Eren was exactly the kind of guy he could see himself spending his future with; Exactly the kind of person he knew he needed in his life to keep him grounded, or from strangling too many people. Eren was a human shaped ray of sunshine, which, given Levi’s generally bleak outlook on things, was something the older man probably needed. 

They’d been sitting and talking for an hour now, and Levi felt like he was losing his mind. Because rationally he knew this wasn’t something that could ever be. He and Eren shared half of their DNA. They shared a biological father. They were related. Which meant the cute brunette wasn't a viable choice in lover. Even if they couldn’t reproduce, incest was still taboo. And even if they didn’t grow up together, the thought alone was squicky enough to make him want to gag. 

Fucking his half-brother? 

It sent shivers of disgust down his spine, making him cringe. 

Fucking Eren, though? 

That didn’t sound so bad. 

Even though it totally should have, because those two criteria were the same exact fucking thing and they really shouldn’t have been so separable in his mind. But they somehow were. 

Spending the rest of his life waking up next to his half-brother? 

That sounded gross and completely inconceivable. 

Spending the rest of his life waking up next to Eren? 

That sounded amazing and completely rational. 

How was he able to tear the two apart in his head? It wasn’t natural. It was strange, and confusing, and driving Levi mad. He waged an entire internal war as Eren prattled on about his old band from college or something, Levi couldn’t keep up. He was in the middle of trying to process all the contradictory thoughts flying through his head. 

“Levi, are you okay?” Eren stopped his story somewhere between complaining about his old bassist, and marveling at how they ever booked a show to check in on Levi, who’s inner turmoil had apparently spread to his exterior. 

“Yes.” Was his instantaneous reaction. “No.” Was his amended reply. “Not really.” His stomach was churning with anxiety. He needed to get this off his chest. He had to share what he knew with the other man. It was too weird, and he just couldn’t keep it in anymore. 

It was too much. 

“I think we have the same dad.” He blurted out and Eren’s face scrunched up in confusion, his brows and nose pulling towards each other as he tried to process Levi’s words. 

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” 

“Your father. He’s my father too.” Levi clarified, though it didn't seem to be much help to the struggling brunette across from him. 

“How did you even…” Eren was clearly confused, that was the only emotion Levi could see on his face as he tried to piece together what was happening. “Wait, hold up for just one minute. My father?” He set his coffee cup down on the surface before him and leaned forward, still trying to figure out what was happening. 

“My name isn’t really Levi Graves. Your last name, Ackerman. That’s my real last name. Graves was my mother’s last name. Keith Ackerman is my biological father.” Eren stared at him, confusion slowly turning to incredulity. 

“Keith Ackerman is your biological father.” He clarified, hints of a smirk tweaking at the corners of his lips. "You're freaking out because Keith Ackerman is your father." 

“That’s what I just said. Sorry for not telling you sooner.” He knew he was blushing now and he could feel the nervous sweats forming on the back of his neck. Eren would surely be disgusted. He'd lose it and start yelling at Levi for being such a weird freak any second now. 

Except he didn't. 

Instead, the smirk tugging at Eren’s lips burst into a full blown grin as Eren broke into a fit of hysterical belly laughter: his whole body shaking as he laughed, and his hand coming up to silently tell Levi to wait. 

“My father isn’t Keith Ackerman.” he coughed out between fits of laughter. 

Wait, what? 

“It’s not?” Levi stared at him in disbelief. He'd seen the picture - the _family_ picture. The one with the proud mother and father, and the loving son and daughter, all posed and smiling for the camera. Eren's name was Ackerman. Eren was in the photo with his father. It was the only conclusion that made any sense. It had to be. He had been so sure. 

He'd gotten it wrong? 

“No. Well, I mean not exactly." Eren chocked on his iown laughs, tying to get a full sentence out between the breathy chuckles. "He’s my dad, yeah. But he’d only my step-dad. He married my mom when I was like four. Ackerman isn’t my real name, either. It’s technically Jaeger-Ackerman.” 

And suddenly the world seemed a whole lot brighter. 

Not a half-brother, but a step-brother. 

That was better. 

Not perfect. But so, so much better. 

It was like the universe was smiling down on him 

“Oh thank God.” Levi released a relieved sigh, settling back into his chair as he ran an antsy hand through his inky locks. 

“Thank God?” Eren had stopped laughing completely now, though the wide smile and playful glean in his eyes remained. 

“I’ve spent the past twelve hours thinking the guy I’m into was my half-brother. I just found out that we’re not blood related, so excuse me for being a bit relieved. I thought I was turning into some kind of deviant.” He pulled his hands from his hair and down his face, trying to calm his beating heart and not even caring if he just spilled the beans on his being into Eren. 

“So you’re into me, then?” He could feel the smugness radiating off Eren from across the table. 

“Shut up, brat.” Levi bit back, smirk fighting its way to his lips. 

“Does that mean I get a second date?” Levi rolled his eyes, hoping he’d be getting way more than a second date out of this. 

“So you waited until we were on a date to tell me that we were brothers? Are you into that kind of stuff, because I’m not sure I could get into that kind of roleplay.” Eren mused, staring off into space, playing as if he were imagining it. At least Levi hoped he was only playing. 

“I thought I said shut up, brat.” He repeated, voice strained as he fought off a fit of laughter of his own. Now that his nerves were released, he was feeling giddy and almost weightless in his chair. 

“I mean, since we’re technically still step-brothers I guess it wouldn’t be much of a jump to make. But I don’t know if I could get into the mindset.” The brunette continued on, ignoring Levi's requests. It should have annoyed him, but he was too happy to care. 

“Eren. Please.” The brunette laughed again, his face crinkling up in the cute way Levi liked so much - the way that he _could_ like now without the crushing guilt bearing down on him. 

“Sorry, sorry. But seriously, if Keith was actually my father this would have been super awkward. I mean, what was your game plan here? Lead me on until I fell for you then reveal we shared a dad and hope I was down with it?” He wished he had an answer to that question. 

“Trust me, I wish I knew.” 

“At least there’s a lesson in this: don’t ever shorten my real name on dating sites ever again. No more Eren Ackerman for me if it’s going to cause misunderstandings like this.” 

“What makes you think you’ll ever need to use a dating site again?” Eren stopped his prattling one, his eyes widening as he met Levi’s grays and a smirk spreading across his lips. 

“Oh ho. What makes you so confident all the sudden?” He questioned, quirking an eyebrow. 

“The guy of my dreams isn’t my half-brother, I’m riding high right now.” Eren broke into another melodious fit of laughter and Levi knew he'd never tire of it. 

“Guy of your dreams, huh?” Eren mused, gloating at him over the lip of his coffee mug. 

“You heard me.” 

“So I’m definitely getting a second date out of this, then.” Eren decided, unable to fight back his obvious excitement. 

“Now that I know I’m not crazy for wanting to bang my brother? Abso-fucking-loutley. So long as it doesn't bother you that I'm Keith's son.” 

“I think we can get past that." Eren winked brazenly, taking a long sip from his cappuccino. "You know, _we_ might not be related, but I do have a younger sister. And she really is Keith’s daughter.” 

“So we share a half-sister, then? Nothing weird about that.” He fidgeted, trying to ignore that it was, in fact, kind of weird. But he was too excited right now. He wasn’t going to hell for wanting to screw his brother’s brains out anymore. His attraction to Eren was totally, certifiably healthy. 

“Nope. Nothing weird to see here.” Eren flashed him a devious grin across the table. “So, Levi. Do you want to meet them?” 

This was a horrible idea. 

How had he let Eren talk him into this? 

They’d been seeing each other for a little over four months, and he’d made Eren promise not to mention him to the family till he built up the nerve to actually confront them. And until he and Eren actually decided their relationship was something they were both serious about, when the introductions would become inevitable. 

That didn’t mean he hadn’t mined the brunette for information on the family he never knew. He’d learned more about his father in the past four months than he had in the preceding twenty-nine and a half years. 

His father raised Eren from the time he was four, when he married Eren’s mom after Eren’s father abandoned them. When Eren was five, their sister was born. Meaning Levi was nearly eleven years her senior. Having a sister was a concept that had been hard for him to wrap his head around. He knew Eren had a sister, she was in the photo of him on the dating website after all, but he’d never put much thought into it that it meant she was his sister too. It was strange for him at first, but over time he came to terms with the fact that after thirty years of being an only child, he now had a sibling. 

His father worked a lot when Eren was growing up, but he always found time to read Eren a bed-time story. And he totally doted on their sister, which was extra funny considering she could apparently kick all of their asses at once. 

His father liked video games, and football. He and Eren were both huge Shinganshina Titans fans, they even had season tickets. 

Eren had come out when he was seventeen, and his father hadn’t taken it well at first, but only took five days to come around to the idea. He'd been excessively supportive since then, much to Eren's embarrassment. 

His father was reserved, but a smart ass. He always had something to say about everything. He was sarcastic, and prickly, and very particular. But he loved his job, and his family. And Eren clearly loved him back. 

As much as learning all these things excited Levi, he couldn’t help but feel bitter at each revelation. What made this family so special? Why hadn’t his father taken Levi in, too? What made his father choose them over him? Why didn’t Levi get season tickets to Titans’ games, or bed-times stories every night growing up, or anything that came with having a dad like Eren’s? 

Because of their strange connection, dating Eren proved to be complicated. In the beginning stages it wasn’t rare for Levi to resent Eren for having the father he never did, or for Eren to question their relationship entirely: Was Levi just dating him to get closer to his dad? To learn things about the man who sired him? 

It had taken a lot of reassuring, but the last time Eren had questioned Levi’s intentions had been over two months ago, and Levi had since decided Eren was not the best person on which to lay his grievances, which had them hoping things were settled on that front, and they could get on with being a happy couple. 

So two weeks ago, when Eren brought up the idea of finally introducing Levi to his family, Levi had reluctantly agreed. 

Because they were dating. 

And Eren was his boyfriend. 

And it was serious, or at least he thought it was. They were already talking about living together when Levi’s lease was up in February, and the future beyond that: marriage, if they wanted kids, what their opinions on child-rearing were. 

The strangeness of their being step-brothers as well as lovers was something that they no longer gave much thought to. It never bothered Eren much in the first place, and Levi had settled his issues with the complicated nature of their relationship. It wasn't like they had been raised together, or anything anyways. Aside from the weird shared connection to Keith Ackerman, they were strangers when they met - same as any other anonymous person on the street. So they moved forward with that understanding, and it was working: They didn't even give it a second thought anymore, hadn’t done so in months. 

So when Eren pointed out Levi would have to be introduced to the family sooner or later, and Thanksgiving seemed like as good a time as ever, neither of them really thought through how they were going to go about the introductions. 

For them was nothing stranger than if Eren was bringing his boyfriend home for Thanksgiving dinner. Except Eren was not just bringing his boyfriend home for Thanksgiving dinner. Technically he was bringing his step-brother home too. One the family had no idea existed, at least as far as Eren could tell – Levi being right in his hunch that his father never told his new family of his bastard son’s existence. 

It wasn’t something either of them really thought all the way through until they were already pulling up into the driveway of the small ranch-style home in the quiet, suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Shiganshina that Eren grew up in. 

How were they possibly going to explain this to Eren’s parents? 

“Maybe I should go in first and explain the situation to them?” Eren brainstormed. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell them who I was beforehand.” He’d have been angrier he wasn’t so preoccupied with not puking. 

“This didn’t exactly seem like the conversation to have over the phone. I thought it would be best handled in person.” The brunette snapped back, his nerves having him higher strung than usual. 

“So we can ruin their holidays? Perfect.” Levi’s sarcastic bite wasn’t helping anything, but he wasn’t sure what else to do at this point. 

“I don’t think this is going to ruin their holidays. It’s not like you’re dad’s illegitimate child from after he married mom or anything.” Eren reasoned. 

“Like that’s going to matter much.” The brunette surely knew his family better, but Levi couldn’t see a scenario where this didn't blow up in their faces. 

“I think it will.” At least Eren sounded a bit more confident now. 

“This was a horrible idea.” 

“If you’re as serious about us as I am this was going to happen sooner or later.” Eren admonished. 

“Right now I’d seriously prefer later.” 

“Well it’s too late for that. We’re already here. They’re going to notice eventually and start asking questions. Like, “Eren, why have you and your boyfriend spent the last ten-minutes sitting in the car? And why does he look so much like Keith?”” 

“Holy shit this was a bad idea.” 

“Come on, we can’t sit here any longer unless you want my mom to come out and greet us in the driveway.” Oh god, having this reveal in a public place was definitely not something he wanted. 

“Let’s get this over with so they can kick me out and I can get back to the airport. I think there’s a flight back to Mitras in two hours I can make.” 

“Stop being so melodramatic. It’ll be a shock, but I can’t see my parents doing anything other than accepting you.” 

“You know, you’re the one to blame for this. You’re the one that found out his step-father had an illegitimate child and his only question about the situation was if he was getting a second date.” 

"You're the one that that asked the guy he thought was his actual blood-related brother on a date in the first place." Eren pointed out with a roll of his eyes. "Honestly, it wasn’t that surprising. I don’t know much about dad’s life before he married mom, he doesn’t like to talk about it so I always got the impression it was kind of sketchy to begin with.” 

“So now I’m sketchy? 

“Stop trying to start a fight.” He could see Eren rolling his eyes a second time out of the corner of his own. “It's not going to get you out of this. Come on, there's no turning back now.” He reached over, giving Levi’s hand a quick squeeze before scrambling to get out of the driver's seat of the rental car. 

“We’re going to make your mother cry.” Levi argued, following Eren's lead and moving to grab his bag from the trunk. 

“She won’t cry. She’s going to love you.” Eren pulled the two suitcases from car, handing one to the older man. 

"You can't know that." 

“Levi, just trust me on this.” 

“What if he hates me.” 

“He won’t hate you.” 

“You can’t –” 

“Eren? Is that you?” Their argument was cut off by a woman’s voice calling to them from the porch. 

“Shit. Here goes nothing.” Eren muttered, pecking Levi on the cheek and reaching for the smaller man’s bagless hand. “Hi mom!” He returned the call, dragging Levi towards the house. 

“Get in here, boys. Welcome, welcome!” She was warm, not unlike her son: All smiles and cheer. Their resemblance was even more apparent in person, though her features were much more feminine than his boyfriend’s it was still the same warm smile that crinkled their whole face, the same green eyes that shone bright, the same messy chocolate hair, even the same naturally sun-kissed skin. 

“Is dad around?” Eren questioned as he crushed his mother into a bear hug, lifting her heels off the floor in the process. “I wanted to introduce you guys at the same time. It's important.” Levi inhaled a shaky, nervous breath. He knew exactly what Eren meant, though the brat's mother seemed oblivious to the bomb that was about to be dropped on her Thanksgiving dinner. 

“I think he’s in the kitchen.” Carla Ackerman mused, giving Levi a once over. If she noticed any resemblance to her husband, or daughter, she said nothing. She just gave him a warm hug, which he reciprocated stiffly, and a soft “you can just call me Carla, if you’d like” before calling out to her husband to come meet their guest. 

Levi tried unsuccessfully to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. It was the moment of truth. He briefly considered bolting back out the front door, but he knew that would only serve to piss Eren off and ruin his chances at a good first impression. 

He was stuck. 

He was doing this. 

He felt Eren’s hand slip back into his, giving a firm squeeze that it didn’t release until his father finally turned the corner into the foyer. 

He looked just like he had in the picture on Eren’s profile. Salt and pepper hair loose around his temples, his eyes the same narrow gray as Levi’s own, a face that was somehow stern and soft at the same time. But aside from that, Levi noticed the man looked like a dad in the most generic way possible, with a gray Shinganshina District Fire Department sweatshirt hanging loose off his frame, khaki cargo shorts, and a pair of dark-gray house shoes. Not exactly something he expected of hardened criminal Kenny Ackerman’s younger brother. 

“Welcome.” He offered a small smile along with his hand for Levi to shake. Levi took it tentatively, trying to ignore the fact that for the first time in his life he was actually touching the man that gave him life, and then abandoned him completely. 

“Okay. Now that you're both here" Eren cut in to take hold of the situation "I just want you two to know that I wouldn’t have brought him here if this wasn’t serious between us. Okay? So please, just try to keep an open mind.” Levi was impressed with Eren’s improvisations given the current noncooperation of his brain, which had all but shut down by this point. He wondered if the brunette had prepared anything for this before hand, or if it came from an off the cuff, heat of the moment inspiration. But Eren's parents just nodded, confusion in their eyes wondering what their son could possibly be getting at. 

“Mom, dad. This is my boyfriend, Levi. Levi _Ackerman._.” Eren’s parents stared at them expectantly, as if waiting for the big revelation they had to keep an open mind for. But apparently that was as far as Eren had gotten in his preparations. 

“Ackerman? And you’re from Mitras?” His father finally broke the awkward silence, taking control of the conversation back from his step-son “you wouldn’t happen to be Jackson’s boy, would you? He must be about Eren’s age, now that I think about it.” Levi cleared his throat, totally caught off guard. Who the fuck was Jackson, and why the fuck would his father think he was this Jackson's son? Did his father really have no idea who he was? 

“No, not exactly. Kenny raised me, actually. And I’m a bit older than Eren.” That seemed to catch the man by surprise as the small smile disappeared from his lips to be replaced with a furrowed frown. 

“Kenny has a son?” He sounded confused, almost as confused as Levi felt. No, Kenny didn't have a son, thank God - those genes desperately needed to be removed from the gene pool. That wasn’t what he said. Why couldn’t the man put it all together on his own? Did he need it spelled out for him that his older brother raised his son for him? 

“No. Kenny didn’t have a son.” He replied, a little irritated. 

“Then whose son are you? I must know your father if you're from Mitras.” His father seemed exasperated, as if he couldn't think of any other possibility. How could he not know? Was it denial? Or was he just that dense? He hoped it was the former, because it was his genes that ran through Levi’s veins. 

“Keith, what is it?” Carla interjected, looking utterly baffled by what was transpiring before her, and Levi wondered how much she actually knew about her husband's past. 

Eren’s hand in his pulsed, giving him a lightning fast squeeze of encouragement. 

“Um, well, yours actually.” Levi’s words were meek, totally lacking in confidence, but they seemed to strike Keith Ackerman somewhere deep because the man took a step back, eyes narrowed at Levi as if he couldn’t possibly believe what the younger man was saying. “I’m Kuchel’s son. Kenny raised me after she died. I’m your son.” He tried again, more confident this time. 

“Kuchel?” The name seemed to trigger a memory, sending his father into thought. “Kuchel’s son?” Levi nodded his affirmation, which was followed by a long stretch of silence and then a whispered “she never even told me she was pregnant”, disbelief painting his face as he tried to make sense of the situation. He stared at Levi more intently now, as if trying to verify from looks alone that the man before him was telling the truth. But Levi hardly noticed, because it had never occurred to him before that his father simply didn’t know he’d even existed in the first place. He figured that since it was the Ackerman clan that raised him, Keith must have known about him. But if Keith left before he was born, and if he hadn’t spoken to his brother, or mother, or any other Ackerman in over thirty years, then maybe it was actually possible Keith hadn’t abandoned him after all. 

He just hadn’t known. 

Maybe if he had, he would have taken Levi in. Moved the boy out to Shiganshina to live with his new wife, and step-son and daughter, in their little ranch style house with his own bedroom, and home cooked meals, and no flea infested mattresses, or Kenny’s gambling buddies mocking his height, or nights staring at the ceiling trying to fall asleep with an empty stomach. 

But before he could get any further into his what-ifs, he was cut off by a pair of strong arms clothed in a gray sweatshirt grabbing him and pulling him roughly into a tight hug. 

The gesture stunned Levi to silence, but that didn't stop him from making the briefest eye contact with Eren to confirm what was happening. Eren's expression was caught between a smugness and affection, and all Levi wanted to do was pull the brat in and cover his stupid face with kisses. Because Eren had been right, god dammit, and he was never going to be able to repay him for this moment. 

No one said anything, not for a long while. And when the silence was finally broken, there were no apologies, or comments on what Levi had just told them, or explanations for the past three decades, or questions about their relationship. 

Just a wordless acceptance: Levi being dragged from the foyer into the home with an arm draped in the bulky material of a gray sweatshirt heavy on his shoulders, hints of a smile pulling at his lips, and his hand warm in Eren’s as he dragged his boyfriend along behind them towards the kitchen. 

Later that night - after things had settled, and he and Keith had a long talk about his mother, and estranged family, and the future, where Keith and Carla had assured him that he was family now, no matter what happened between him and Eren, and that though it was surely unconventional, they gave their blessing - he curled up with Eren in the brunette’s full sized bed in the room he’d lived in since birth, emotionally exhausted from the day. 

“I told you they’d love you.” Eren murmured, burrowing closer into Levi's side. 

“They still haven’t totally processed it yet. Give it a week before we celebrate anything.” He kissed the crown of the brunette's head, both joking and completely serious. It had been too easy - he'd been welcomed in too easily. Surely there would be more to it than what had transpired that day. Surely Keith, and Carla, and Mikasa, his new sister, would have more questions for him, and there were still more conversations to be had about everything. Today had been way too easy, and things as good as this didn't normally happen in his life without some sort of catch. 

“Nonsense, you’re one of us now.” Eren wrapped his arms around the shorter man's torso, giving a light squeeze. 

“Guess we can never break up then, unless we want to tear the family apart along with us.” 

“I don’t think we have much to worry about on that front.” Eren tilted his head up to cover Levi’s lips with his own in a sweet kiss. "You're stuck with me." 

“Good. I’d hate to ruin my new family right after meeting them.” He tucked Eren tighter into his side, lazily grazing his hand over the brunette’s abdomen. 

“So can we fuck in my old bed now? I’ve always wanted to christen the place.” Eren switched topics with a joke, eliciting a groan from Levi 

“You’re horrible.” 

“Never claimed not to be.” 

“Shitty brat.” He pressed his lips into the soft hair on the top of Eren's head, hugging the younger man even tighter to him. 

“That’s not a no” Eren pushed up to face him, smirk playing on his lips. "Come on, big brother. Live a little." 

"Call me that one more time and see if we ever have sex again." Eren giggled, leaning in and planting a soft, chaste kiss on his lips. 

"Fine. Have it your way." Levi rolled his eyes, but let Eren kiss him again, deeper this time. "I love you, you know." Eren mumbled the words into his mouth before pulling away, establishing eye contact as if to ensure his words got through Levi's thick skull. 

That's good, this would be awkward otherwise." The loss of contact was irritating, and Levi sought to reestablish it with a forceful kiss of his own as his reply tapered off. 

"Levi," Eren scolded him with a nip to his bottom lip. He pulled away exasperated, meeting Eren's brilliant green eyes with a roll of his own. 

"You know I love you too, brat." He pointed it out like it was obvious, but Eren's face lit up like it was the first time he'd heard the words uttered from Levi's mouth. 

"You're right. I do know that." the distance between them was re-closed in an instant with a series of quick, commanding kisses, forcing Levi harder into the headboard behind him. "And I was serious about christening this place." the brat was doing his best to be sultry in the way he knew made Levi weak. 

"Shitty brats." Levi grumbled, though he couldn't keep the small smile from his lips as they moved in time with Eren's. Because after thirty years, he actually had a family. A real, honest to God family with family dinners, and season tickets to football games, and inside jokes that spanned decades. A real family that actually celebrated Holidays, and birthdays together, that accepted him without a second thought. 

And on top of that, he'd discovered he'd never been abandoned, or unloved, or forgotten. His father hadn't left him for a new, happier family after all. And that thought filled him with warmth. 

But most of all, he had a boyfriend that loved him, and understood him, and supported him; and even if Eren claimed Levi was stuck with him, Levi couldn't help but feel it was somehow the other way around. Because he wasn't going to let go of that brat for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Good god, ending this was impossible! I really hope you liked it, because this is the most unsure I've been about a fic.  
> So please: feed my feedback addiction and tell me what you thought!  
> Much Love,  
> RG  
> My Soulmate One Shots: [Meaningless Words (Riren - Rated M)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6678349) and [Stuck (Ereri - Rated E)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5936296?).
> 
> My ongoing fics: [The Feeling (Soulmate AU)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5846590/chapters/13475542) and [Sorry (Office AU).](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5769505/chapters/13295287)
> 
> My other One Shots: [What Do You Mean, What Do I Mean "My Bed"?"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6782446), and [Drying Dreams](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6869722/chapters/15676360)
> 
> [My Tumblr ](rglass.tumblr.com)  
> 


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